Security Levels

Environmental Management (CG-47)

Overview of The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.) was born as a result of increasing
concern nation-wide over the deterioration of the environment-- from
contaminated water to smog and air quality problems-and from the realization
that the long term quality of the environment is dependent on today's
decisions. NEPA is the national charter for environmental planning. It
declares a national policy which encourages harmony between humans and their
environment and promotes efforts to prevent or eliminate damage to that
environment. It also establishes an analytical process for Federal agency
decision making. The analytical process established by NEPA requires that
for Federal actions having the potential to significantly impact the
environment, agencies must:

Make environmental information available to public officials and
citizens before agency decisions are made;

NEPA is a decision making tool very similar to, and compatible
with, the project planning tools already implemented by the Coast Guard; it
ensures that the decision maker is in possession of the environmental
information he or she needs to make the best and most informed decisions on
proposed USCG actions. NEPA requires that the effects of USCG actions on the
environment are considered equally with economic, technical, and other
factors associated with the proposed action.

NEPA also establishes the Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ). The CEQ
is an executive council which is responsible for overseeing the NEPA process
and for reporting to the President and Congress on the status, condition,
and management, of the Nation's environment. CEQ is also responsible for
developing the "Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions
of NEPA" (40 CFR 1500-1508). The CEQ regulations require agencies to
categorize each of their actions as normally requiring one of the following
levels of environmental analysis and documentation:

1. A categorical exclusion (CE). (CEs are applied to those actions
that do not normally have the potential for significant impacts and do not
require a detailed level of environmental analysis such as an environmental
assessment (EA) or environmental impact statement (EIS)).

2. An EA. (EAs are an intermediate level of environmental analysis
and are conducted when an action does not fit an existing CE or its
potential for significant impacts are unknown.)

3. An EIS. (EIS's are the most detailed level of environmental
analysis, and they are conducted for actions that will have significant
impacts.)